VALUE IN OLD DOCU-DRAMAS – Last
weekend, I had a chance to slow down and watch some old movies on Starz and
EPIX.Two movies on Starz Black caught
my attention, and I’m glad they did – The
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) with Whoopi Goldberg and Alec Baldwin, and Mississippi Burning (1988) with Gene
Hackman and Willem Dafoe.

Both films
were based…and I emphasized “based,” on true stories that were rooted in the
1960s civil rights movement. Ghosts
focused on the 1994 retrial of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the
assassination of NAACP civil rights leader Medgar Evers, while Burning retold the story of the FBI
investigation into the 1964 murders of Goodman, Cheney and Swerner – three
civil rights workers who were murdered in Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan, and
the investigation into their disappearance.

Again,
these films were based on actual events, meaning that the writers, looking for
the best way to juice up the drama, put some things in that didn’t happen, and
left some things out that did.

And that’s
the reason why no docudrama should ever be taken literally or factually. For
instant, I also watched the 2008 film Defiance
starring Daniel Craig about some Polish Jewish brothers who help other Jews
escape through the forest during the Nazi occupation of Belarus in the Soviet
Union during World War II. Good film, but a lot of it wasn’t true.

The exact
same thing can be said about the Academy Award nominated 2014 film, The
Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch as British scientist Alan Turing
who breaks the Nazi code during World War II. That film took some serious
liberties with the truth as well.

My point is
that when you watch these movies that are based on actual events, realize that
that term “based” is as loaded as can be. It means that the writers took as
much artistic license as possible to make what they felt was a good story even
better, never mind that they my be fudging the facts of the actual truth. That
means that the value of these docudramas is that they serve to in spire us to
research the actual story, to find out the truth for ourselves.

And that
was the value of watching Ghosts of
Mississippi and Mississippi Burning
for me last weekend. I had already known about the true stories those films
were based on, but I wanted to examine them based what I saw.

And one of
the reasons why I wanted to reexamine them is because my youngest daughter,
KaLa, was watching Ghosts with me,
and I could tell that she was intrigued.

Many of us still
don’t realize that despite many of the racial problems we still deal with today
and that our young people have been exposed to, they still have absolutely no
idea of the kind of racism that existed during the 1960s and before. So to see
portrayals of the Ku Klux Klan shooting and killing black people, lynching them
and hanging them by the neck from trees while they torched their homes and
property, are images they can only imagine without films like these.

So yes, it
happens all of the time…docudramas come out about important historical events,
and the criticism about how inaccurate they are come right with them.

But, just
like “Selma,” if they inspire us to investigate the truth for ourselves, then
they’ve served our purpose.I, for one,
am happy that they’re here.

MSNBC MAKES
CHANGES – As we head into the 2016 election cycle, the cable news channels are
gearing up for maximum audiences. But MSNBC, perceived to be the “liberal”
channel when compared to conservative Fox News and so-called “straight” news
CNN, is making dramatic changes to it’s weekday schedule in an effort to boost
its weakening ratings and become more competitive.

Gone are
virtually all of the progressive talk shows that peppered the channel during
the day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and now, MSNBC’s 6 p.m. show, “PoliticsNation
with Rev. Al Sharpton” comes to an end this week. Rev. Sharpton has been doing
the controversial show for the past six years despite protests from many in the
press that a civil rights activist doesn’t deservea daily show on a news channel because he
can’t be objective.

Well,
Sharpton never claimed to be objective, let alone a journalist. And when there
were the incidents of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, Sharpton used his show to
bring nationwide attention to the causes. Many didn’t like that, feeling that
it gave Sharpton undeserved power, but he kept on keeping on.

Well, his
daily show is now cancelled, but obviously MSNBC sees the value of having Rev.
on the air, so he now moves to Sunday morning at 8 a.m.. Rev says that’s just
fine with him because Sunday morning political talk shows get better guests and
help set the policy agenda for the week.

We wish
Rev. well. Yes, he had a very rocky start, but he has a grip on it now, and should
do well on Sunday mornings.

Make sure you tune in every Thursday
afternoon at 4 p.m. for my talk radio show, ''Make It Happen'' on Power 750
WAUG-AM, or online at www.waug-network.com. And read more about my
thoughts and opinions exclusively at my blog, ‘The Cash Roc” (http://thecashroc.blogspot.com/2011/01/cash-roc-begins.html).

Cash in the Apple - honored as the
Best Column Writing of 2006 by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Columnist Cash Michaels was also honored by the NNPA for Best Feature Story
Journalist of 2009, and was the recipient of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP’s
President’s Award for Media Excellence in Sept. 2011.

Until next week, keep a smile on your
face, GOD in your heart, and The Carolinian in your life. Bye, bye.

-30-

TRIANGLE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 9-3-15

THREE SUSPECTS IN
KEYSHAWN GREGORY MURDER APPEAR IN COURT

The three
teenage suspects charged in the shooting death of 13-year-old Keyshawn Gregory
Aug. 7 made a court appearance Tuesday andhad their cases continued. A Wake County grand jury is expected to soon
consider indictments against them. The youth was shot after an argument broke
out between one of the passengers in the car he was riding in and someone
standing in front of 1401 Beauty Ave. Malik Armein Jones, 19, has been charged
with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. He is
being held without bond. Two alleged accomplices – Jamal Howie, 19, and
Jonathan Chavez, 18, have both been charged with one count of accessory after
the fact. Both are being held on $2 million bond each.

RALEIGH CITY COUNCIL
APPROVES FOOD TRUCK REZONING

Concerned
that a proposed rezoning plan would limit where they could do business, food
truck operators and owners turned out in force Tuesday evening to pressure the
Raleigh City Council change the plan. To their surprise, the council listened,
and then voted to approve amending Zone NX to allow food truck operation in
mixed-use areas.The council also
approved mixed-use development in the old Dillion Supply Company building
downtown. That will be turned into a 17-story facility for offices and
apartments.

BLACK PARENTS DEMAND
END TO SUSPENSIONS

Several
black children advocacy groups are pressuring the Wake County Public School
System to do more to stem the high rate of black student suspensions.

“The Education Justice Alliance, Dignity In Schools and the
Coalition Of Concerned Citizens for African American Children are demanding
that the Wake County Public School System develop an immediate action plan that
will eliminate the high rate of suspensions and the disparities of Black
Students,” the groups said in a statement last week. “According to the University
Of Pennsylvania, Black students make up 24.7% of the enrollment and 53.3%of the
suspensions in Wake County Public School System. We believethatBlackstudentsaregravelyharmed bythe districtspracticesofhighsuspensions, expulsions, retentions, student arrests; ISS placement
rates have had a negative impact on the education and life of our children.”

-30-

STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 9-3-15

TWO INNOCENT FORMER
INMATES WIN STATE COMPENSATION

[RALEIGH]
At press time Wednesday, the NC Industrial Commission awarded compensation to Henry
McCollum, 51, and Leon Brown, 47, two half-brothers falsely convicted for a
1983 rape/murder of an 11-year-old girl they did not commit, and spent over 30
years in prison for. Both men were released from prison a year ago, but only
received pardons of innocence from Gov. Pat McCrory last June. McCollum and
Brown were awarded $750,000 each from the state for their false convictions.
McCollum attended the hearing, but Brown was hospitalized due to mental health
issues.

STUDENT PROGRESS ON
STATE TEST RESULTS STALL

[RALEIGH] Students statewide
have not markedly improved their standardized test scores, according to results
released Wednesday for the 2014-15 school year. Fewer schools met their goals
for academic improvement, reversing progress made just a year ago. 56.6 percent
of students statewide passed their reading, math and science exams, just .3
percent more than last year. Schools now get letter grades to show progress,
with scores of 85 and above earning an A. However, an analysis shows that over
70 percent of schools statewide earned a C.

STATE SUPREME HEARS
REDISTRICTING ARGUMENTS AGAIN

[RALEIGH]
By order of the US Supreme Court, the NC High Court this week once again
listened to arguments concerning the 2011 redistricting maps passed by the
Republican-led NC General Assembly. Critics say those maps “stacked and packed”
black voters into a few districts in order to give white Republican candidates
an election advantage by removing black Democratic voters. The NC Supreme Court
ruled eight months ago that the GOP maps were constitutional, but the US High
Court ordered it to look again after US justices ruled that the Alabama
restricting maps were flawed because of the way race was factored in. Lawyers
arguing against North Carolina’s maps pointed to warped district lines that cut
through neighborhoods and confused voters as to why the maps should be deemed
unconstitutional. Lawyers for GOP lawmakers say they only followed the dictates
of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in assuring that majority-black voting districts
were drawn. No word when the state High Court will decide, or if it will be in
time for the 2016 elections.

-30-

NC NAACP WELCOMES
“JOURNEY”

MARCHERS AMID THREAT

By Cash Michaels

Editor

The NCNAACP
has welcomed the “Journey for Justice” marchers to North Carolina amid vile
racist threats that have thrown caution towards their activities.

The Carolinian has learned that during
the state registration process by which the civil rights organizations invited
locals to join the national march through the North Carolina leg of its
860-mile trek from Selma, Alabama to Washington, D.C., at least one racist
named “Jim Crow” with the supposed email of “HangAnigger@coons.com”posted the
following on the NCNAACP registration site online:

Black lives only matter when white person kills them. What
about all the niggers that kills niggers. Y'all will always love in the
projects and slums. You never will live or be looked at like the white man. We
are white and we own this country. Go back to the jungles you bunch of porch
monkies. That nappy and greasy hair you got is so nasty. And your crusty,
crinkled up toes. Nigger, nigger, nigger.

Under “organization” the
registrant wrote, “Ku Klux Klan.”

The registration was received at
9:30 p.m. last Friday.

Rev. William Barber, president of
the NCNAACP, told The Carolinian that
normally, “We don’t always talk publicly about” these kinds of threats that he
and his group receive, but because the marchers from Alabama were scheduled to
be in the state for seven days, “…we have alerted the authorities
[including]…the highway patrol.”

Of primary concern to Rev. Barber
was that the racist registrant checked yes to the question of whether they
would be attending today’s Thursday, Sept 3rd march and rally in
Raleigh at 5 p.m..

With the Charleston church shooting
massacre by a young white supremacist last June still fresh in the church and
civil rights communities’ minds and heart, Barber and others are now taking
such possible threats much more seriously than before, especially with the
ever-growing presence of guns in the nation.

Rev. Barber said the NCNAACP “has no
way of tracking where the registrations came from.”

The march from Shaw University this
afternoon at 4 p.m. through downtown Raleigh, followed by a rally and program
featuring the “Journey to Justice” marchers led by NAACP Pres./CEO Cornell
Brooks at 5 p.m. in the Bicentennial Mall at 5 p.m., is the culmination of
several celebratory activities since the marches crossed the North Carolina –
South Carolina last weekend.

On Monday they held a “Voting Rights
Teach-in” at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh. Tuesday saw the delivery
of a letter from the NCNAACPstatewide
to the congressional offices in 17 cities statewide demanding that the stalled 2015 Voting Rights
Advancement Act, “… be brought to a hearing, voted upon and passed to restore
and strengthen the 1965 Votings Rights Act.

“While we will continue to fight in
the streets, in the courts, and at the ballot box at the State level, we are part
of the mighty National NAACP,” Rev. Barber wrote in a statement. “We demand
that Congress get to work and fix the shambles the five justices made of our
sacred Voting Rights.”

“The
NC NAACP, the Forward Together Moral Movement, our local NAACP branches, are
the blood stream of the National America Journey for Justice,” Rev. Barber
continued. “We demand Congress act to restore, strengthen, and advance the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 that
was introduced in the Senate by Senator Patrick Leahy and in the House by
Representative Terri Sewell. Bring the bill to hearing. Vote for it. Release a
statement pledging your support. Join the Journey for Justice now.”